This Is How A 16-Year-Old Broke Twitter With His Brain Child Demands.
What started with a comedic request by a 16-year-old boy for Wendy’s to fulfil the dream to give him free chicken nuggets, has resulted in a tweet that broke the world record for being shared more times than the group selfie taken by Ellen Degeneres at the 2014 Oscars.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 16-year-old Carter Wilkerson’s April 5 tweet asking Wendy’s how many retweets he would need to receive a year’s worth of free nuggets has been retweeted 3,478,858 times and counting, while Degeneres’ tweet had 3,432,940 retweets.
HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS pic.twitter.com/4SrfHmEMo3
— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017
While still a long way from the promised 18 million tweets, and pulling the plug on the same, Wendy’s has declared the count “good for the nuggets” and has agreed not only to hand Wilkerson his reward, but to also make a US$ 100,000 donation to Dave Foundation for Adoption in Wilkerson’s name.
.@carterjwm is now the most retweeted tweet of all-time. That’s good for the nuggets, and $100k to @DTFA. Consider it done. #nuggsforcarter pic.twitter.com/k6uhsJiP4E
— Wendy's (@Wendys) May 9, 2017
Admitting his Wendy’s challenge a joke, Wilkerson in an interview told that “I thought ‘Consider it done’ would be funny among my friend group,” he said. “Then I put the screenshot up and it started gaining momentum.” Amazingly enough, the tweet went viral like a wild fire, gaining attention of many and reaching one million retweets in just two days.
1 Million?!?! Officially SHOOK https://t.co/XZ1AafXo2p
— Wendy's (@Wendys) April 7, 2017
By April 10, the count had doubled, reaching 2.4 million retweets. The tweet was not only retweeted and replied to by other users but by companies and celebrities alike.
https://twitter.com/aaronpaul_8/status/850560916156370944
Microsoft, Amazon, Google and other major companies all joined in on the fun, further heating up the spotlight on Wilkerson. Wilkerson is currently followed by 108,000 Twitter users.
We're in. How about you, @Amazon and @Google? #NuggsForCarter https://t.co/zi8FmD6Cf8
— Microsoft (@Microsoft) April 7, 2017
Live your best life, Carter. Follow your dreams. #NuggsForCarter https://t.co/PbHd9JMQjE
— Amazon.com (@amazon) April 8, 2017
Feeling lucky, @carterjwm? #NuggsForCarter https://t.co/pYqVV6rBh3
— Google (@Google) April 8, 2017
We love @Carterjwm! We'll throw in a free drink every day if you get your Nuggs, Carter. RETWEET HIM NOW. #NuggsforCarter https://t.co/hjKWugtlsp
— Taco John's (@tacojohns) April 7, 2017
The broken record thanks to the retweeting frenzy was acknowledged in a tweet by Guinness World Records.
Congratulations to @carterjwm who just broke @TheEllenShow's record for most retweeted tweet on @Twitter #NuggsForCarter pic.twitter.com/gwKyq8zmfP
— GuinnessWorldRecords (@GWR) May 9, 2017
Although Wilkerson will be getting his nuggets, he appears determined to achieve the initially agreed upon benchmark. “Now let’s get 18 million,” he tweeted.
We did it guys! Thanks to you're help and support we were able to raise $100k for @DTFA and beat @TheEllenShow record! Now let's get 18mil!
— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) May 9, 2017